Voices of the Tea Party

Posted on Apr 18, 2010

Tea party members are often depicted as anti-Democrat reactionaries or scoffed at as holding incoherent, outside-reality positions. But a new feature by The New York Times lets supporters speak for themselves, sharing their concerns for the country and what the tea party means to them.

The interactive feature shows 20 activists who answered the newspaper’s invitation to share their views with the world. Note the sea of white faces in the “Voices of the Tea Party.”—JCL

The New York Times:

The latest New York Times/CBS News poll looks at the 18 percent of Americans who consider themselves supporters of the Tea Party movement.

On the whole, the supporters dislike President Obama and Congress and say that the government in Washington cannot be trusted. Most say that the country is seriously off course, and that all members of Congress should be replaced, yet most say the country does not need a third party.

The nationwide telephone poll, of 1,580 adults, was conducted April 5 through 12. For the purposes of analysis, Tea Party supporters were oversampled, for a total of 881, and then weighted to their proper proportion in the poll.